digital TV

Adobe is bringing Flash and HD content into your living rooms via set-top boxes, Blu-Ray players and other Internet-capable equipment. If you’re thinking it’s going to be a small or niche market participating in this program, think again — content providers already on board include Atlantic Records, Comcast, Disney Interactive, Intel, Netflix and even The New York Times amongst many others. The Adobe Flash Platform for Digital Home is available right now for OEMs and will be hitting System on Chip vendors in the latter half of 2009 ensuring all of your favorite Flash-based web content, videos, applications and services will become accessible to screens beyond just the computer. Of course, we have all been expecting this since Adobe first began moving forward with the Open Screen Project but we’re pretty excited about this coming digital technology and the fact that so many big industry players are involved. Hit the jump for additional details and information.

The House of Representatives defeated the digital TV delay bill with a 258-168 vote that failed to secure the two thirds needed for passage. The vote closely followed party lines with 155 Republicans voting against the bill and 22 Republicans voting for it. Amongst House Democrats, 236 voted for the bill and a mere 13 voted against it. The defeat signaled a win for House republicans who have opposed the delay, claiming the four month delay would further confuse consumers, cause an unnecessary delay for companies and public safety agencies waiting for the spectrum to be released and burden TV companies with the additional cost of broadcasting both analog and digital signals during the four month delay. The defeat is a setback for the Obama administration and congressional democrats who believe that the current resources to assist people in the digital TV transition are in a state of disarray and are concerned that the public, particularly poor, rural and low-income Americans, will not be adequately prepared when the analog air waves are turned off on February 17th. The Obama administration and congressional democrats still claim to be exploring all options to secure another vote on this issue.

If you’re an avid BGR reader, you’re probably all set to go for the switch to digital TV but if you’ve been slacking for whatever reason, there could be some good news for you. After a lot of bickering, the US Senate has just passed a bill to extend the switch from February 17 to June 12. Even though there was plenty of warning, lots of folks felt that February was just too soon and so the proposal for a delay is one step closer to being passed. Of course the bill still must make it through the House and the desk of the the President. For those who received a $40 coupon (to aid in the purchase of a digital converter box) that expired or is soon to expire, a new coupon can be requested should the bill pass. Seriously though, with the June 12 deadline and tax refunds on their way… Well, you know what we’re getting at. Now that the ultimate relief may soon be given to the nation’s biggest procrastinators, it’s time to get on the digital bandwagon folks.

Once television goes digital, there is going to be some open “white space” in the air and the FCC is now deciding on how the spectrum should be used. Companies like Google and Microsoft want the space for a variety of reasons – Google mainly suggesting it be open for use by anyone (so they can get their platform onto more devices that will be using the spectrum, one would assume). Naturally, mobile carriers and device makers want the spectrum so they can expand their business and sell more products and services. But the National Association of Broadcasters aren’t too keen on that idea and have other plans of their own. Now, it’s just up to the FCC to lay out a plan for how the open spectrum should be put to use. Years of data collected and testing will be done to help the FCC make a final decision on just how the spectrum would be best used exactly. Field tests are being conducted because some companies, like T-Mobile, are saying certain uses for the spectrum would interfere with their services. Hey, as long as we can get a little bandwidth allocation for BGR, we’re happy with whatever they decide to do.